1 min read · 14 December 2009
My weekly small biz video spot with Reuters, this time about whether the social media wars have been won:
1 min read · 14 December 2009
Co-founder of BluePoint Venture Marketing dies at the age of 60
2 min read · 14 December 2009
Thus far, the Canopy Financial story has been about how some company execs allegedly cooked the books to secure more than $60 million in new venture capital investment. But we've now learned that the scheming may have been far broader, and affected many more people than just Canopy's investors and (mostly laid-off) employees. In a letter sent yesterday to its customers, Canopy said that it has reason to believe that former executives were skimming from the Health Savings Accounts that Canopy's technology is designed to help administer. In other words, they were stealing from ordinary folks employed by companies like Fifth Third Bank and Sovereign Bank (Canopy also claimed many clients outside the financial services space, but we've been unable to confirm their validity). Canopy's letter did not say how much money might have been taken, but we hear that it was well in excess of just a few hundred thousand dollars.
2 min read · 11 December 2009
My weekly video spot for Reuters, this time discussing yesterday's passage of a House of Reps bill that would change the treatment of carried interest for private partnerships. Specifically, VC and PE firms would be required to pay ordinary income on their cut of fund profits (save for profits on monies committed by individual partners), which is about twice what they currently pay under a capital gains structure. I do plan to write much more about this issue in the coming days, and address the numerous issues being raised by defenders of current policy. Per usual, I'm filming just a few paces from the home office:
1 min read · 10 December 2009
When does a $20 million fine not suffice as punishment for bad deeds? When you can: (a) Afford it; (b) It preempts you from facing criminal charges of bribing public pension officials; (c) That lack of charges lets you keep a high-paying job that may replenish your platinum coffers; and (d) You don’t have to admit to actually having committed any bad deeds. Such is the situation in New York, where Riverstone Holdings co-founder David Leuschen agreed to pay $20 million “in restitution” for the benefit of the New York State Common Retirement Fund. This follows an earlier agreement whereby Riverstone agreed to pay $30 million. What did Leuschen do wrong? Officially nothing. Sure he “invested” $100k into a straight-to-vid flick produced by the brother of NYCRF’s chief investment officer. And that chief investment officer did direct hundreds of millions of dollars in Riverstone funds (not to mention the whole Hank Morris placement agent and Alan Hevesi contribution angles). But so long as the check is big enough, Leuschen gets to avoid the prospect of a felony conviction that would allow – almost require – Riverstone LPs to remove Leuschen from the general partnership.
2 min read · 10 December 2009
"What we don’t want is to have too much money around and have the prices run up and then have the bozos able to do deals again. When every fool can get rich, it doesn’t work well for firms like ourselves.” -Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman, speaking today at the Goldman Sachs US Financial Services Conference
1 min read · 09 December 2009
The General Accountability Office (GAO) today released a report of its findings regarding the Research & Development (R&D) Tax Credit, arguing that the Credit's design and administration could be improved. Download the full report here, or read it after the jump:
1 min read · 09 December 2009
1 min read · 09 December 2009
First Round Capital has outdone itself. Not with a new investment, but with a new video holiday card. You might remember last year's infectiously joyous effort, which involved First Round partners dancing with each of their portfolio companies (a spoof on the Dancing Matt phenomenon). This time they've set their sights on another, and more recent, viral superstar:
1 min read · 09 December 2009
